Rug cleaning
in Berkeley.

Berkeley’s housing is old by California standards. NeighborhoodScout puts about 46 percent of the city’s homes at 1939 or earlier, and much of what stands in Elmwood, Claremont and the Berkeley Hills is First Bay Tradition work — unpainted redwood shingle outside, wide plank floors and open rooms inside. Houses built that way were built around rugs, and hand-knotted wool is usually what is on those floors. North of campus the pattern breaks. The fire of September 1923 took 640 structures through La Loma Park and Northside, and the blocks came back in stucco and tile rather than shingle and shake. Weather does the slow damage. The flats near the bay take marine-layer fog most summer mornings and roughly 22 inches of rain a year, while the hills above the Claremont sit above the fog line and take 28 to 32. Wool that stays damp under a sofa in the flats mats and sours long before it wears through. Our answer is the same one we have used since 1978. Cold-water immersion washing keeps lanolin in the fiber and vegetable dyes where the weaver put them. Rug repair and reweaving rebuild ends and selvedges that old floors and door thresholds chew through. Moth treatment earns its place in hill houses with wool stored in closets, and pet-damage pre-treatment uses an enzymatic step before the rug ever reaches the wash floor. Pickup and delivery across Berkeley are free on orders of $150 or more.

Call (650) 675-8160 or book online and we will set a pickup window with you in advance, then confirm it within a day. Our own team drives the van — never a contractor — so the person who collects your rug in North Berkeley is the person who carries it into our Newark workshop. We record condition on collection, note any repairs, and send a written estimate before work starts. Customer service answers 8am to 8pm, seven days.